Many private roadways of a size such as the relatively long driveways of private residences in certain climatic areas receive substantial accumulations of snow. To facilitate operation of automotive vehicles over these driveways, it is necessary to remove at least a portion of such snow accumulations to avoid having vehicles become stuck on the road surface.
One type of snow removal apparatus that that become extremely popular for use on residential driveways as well as for sidewalks is the snow blower powered by a gasoline engine or electric motor. While some snow blowers are adapted to be mounted on tractors such as garden or lawnmower tractors, the most commonly used types are of a walk-behind behind type. These walk-behind snow blowers are convenient and efficient when utilized for clearing relatively small surface areas such as short drives and sidewalks. They are not particularly efficient because of the time involved to effect removal of snow from the larger surface areas of relatively long private drives as well as from other areas which may be utilized by automotive vehicles. The larger tractor mounted blowers, while better able to handle larger surface areas, are not as efficient as blade-type snow removing apparatus and, coupled with their proportionally higher cost, have not been utilized to any great extent. Also, snow blowers are generally unsafe for use on drives that are gravel paved as contrasted to the asphalt or concrete paved drives.
Larger sized snow removing apparatus having a blade is generally preferred for the relatively longer driveways and other paved areas. Blade-type apparatus has the further advantage over the blower apparatus of being able to operate on gravel paved surfaces as well as the asphalt and concrete paved areas. Blade-type apparatus of appropriate size, however, requires a fairly large vehicle to power the blade in removal of snow. To minimize the cost of blade-type snowplowing apparatus, blade-type mechanisms have been devised for attachment to automotive vehicles such as to their axles or bumpers. Blade-type apparatus heretofore devised generally includes a structural frame that is of a construction having rigidity to maintain the blade in a proper position with respect to the vehicle. The frames designed to be attached to the bumper or axle of the vehicle can be connected at either the front or the rear of a vehicle. Usually, such apparatus is designed for attachment to the rear of the vehicle as the rear bumper or associated vehicle frame members are more readily accessible. Vehicles of current design have the disadvantage of not being designed with bumpers that are of a structural nature capable of accepting and providing a suitable mount for the snowplow apparatus. Also, the axle structures have been modified substantially to the extent that it is also difficult to mount the previously known blade-type snowplow apparatus to the axle. These deficiencies in the structural configuration of previously known snowplow apparatus and techniques of attachment to automotive vehicles has lead to the devising of an improved snowplow apparatus of the structure disclosed herein and which is the subject of this invention.